Takoyaki Party

May 28th, 2006

A takoyaki(タコ焼き たこやき) party was held at the bar yesterday which I occasionally go get a drink. Takoyaki is sort of octopus dumpling. We tried to make some strange takoyaki. They weren't exactly real takoyaki, maybe strange dumpling. We put some kinds of foods in the dumpling instead of octopus - such as cheese, umeboshi(梅干 うめぼし pickled plum), rice cake. I've just remembered I posted similar article on this blog last year. Here is the article.

Some of my friends, including some of my American friends, attended the party. We had a huge amount of strange dumpling and a good time! The party was held at the bar about which I've posted. Here is the details of the bar.

And also, here is the details of takoyaki.

| Japanese food | takoyaki |

Real Reason of Windows Vista delay

May 27th, 2006

It's said that the release of Windows Vista, which is the next version of Microsoft Windows, is apparently late. And MS delayed it many times. I really don't know the real reason of it, but I guess it's late due to Apple Computer, Inc. I don't mean Apple disturbs MS, don't get me wrong. :) Apple released new Macintosh with Intel chip as you know. After that, MS is required to refine Windows Vista, I guess.

Actually, I used to be a computer programmer of the OS which is designed for an embedded device. From my point of view, Windows looked so heavy even though most of PCs are installed fast CPUs, plus the reliability used to be very poor. On the other hand, MacOS X is based on UNIX and used to be the OS for NextStep. It was brought to Apple by Steven Jobs when he came back to Apple, if my memory serves me correctly.

To be honest, the design of MacOS X is more excellent than the one of Windows, as an ex-programmer for OS. If the performance of Windwos Vista is poorer than the one of MacOS X, it's the proof MS designed wrong. Because both OSs should be able to be installed in the same hard ware environment.

I suppose the designers of Windows Vista are trying in a mad rush to refine it in order to achieve the performance as well or better than Macintosh with intel chip. That's the real reason of Windows Vista delay. haha. Just kidding.

I'm personally worried about the security of Windows Vista, because I guess they are arranging the kernel of Windows in order to speed up. If so, I'll have to wait and see for a while, and I'll never buy it until they release "Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista". hehe.

| Windows Vista |

Before Breakfast

May 26th, 2006

I found out some interesting English idioms - such as "No sweat." and "It's a piece of cake." Sounds exactly interesting to me.
The meaning of those idioms is "a thing that is very easy to do", according to OALD. In Japan they say, "Before breakfast.(朝飯前　あさめしまえ asameshi mae)" It means that they are able to do the thing easily even though they are so hungry - such as "before breakfast".

Anyway I'll try to talk about those idioms in the next English lesson I intend to take this evening. :)

| Japanese idiom | English idiom |

Hooray! Holly cow!

May 23th, 2006

I often use "Gmail", the free Internet email service provided by Google, in English edition to practice.
It offers us a powerful spam filter, so most of spam emails are sorted automatically into the spam folder of my email box.
When I pressed the button of "Delete forever" to delete all spam emails, the following message always comes up on the screen.

"Hooray, no spam here!"

According to my dictionary, "Hooray!" means similar to "Great!" "I'm so happy!" as an exclamation. Hmm... interesting. Let me write a composition with the word.

My wife: Papa, I'm going to my home town with our kids in order to see my parents this Sunday. Can you stay at home?
Me: Hooray! I've never been happier! I'm going to be single on the day!
My wife: Don't cheat on me with another woman!
Me: Yes, sir....


And also, I've seen the word "Holly cow!" before. It apparently means similar to "Oh, my god!". Anyway, I'll write another composition....

My wife: Sorry, papa. My parents are busy this Sunday. We are staying at home with you.
Me: Holly cow! I was about to make a nice plan to spend my free time on the day.
My wife: What? A nice plan? What's that?
Me: The plan is.... Oops! I have to go to work right away. See you, mama!
My wife: Hold on! Don't escape from me!

If these sentences aren't interesting, give me a break. :)

| English study |

Google Video

May 22th, 2006

According to some news web sites, Google has just released "Google Video" to the public, but they require us to have a Google account to try it. It's said that they used to release it to only journalists(newspeople).
It supports almost all formats of videos. Actually, the videos which I take with my cell phone are saved as ASF format. I tried to upload some videos on it as a test.

Please have a look at the following video, but I'm speaking Japanese in it, though. :)



According to some people who know so well about Internet services, YouTube is more popular than Google Video.

| Google Video |

Checkup, Massage

May 20th, 2006

Our busy season ended last month as I posted the other day. But my brother and I are worried about our health because we had to work our fingers to the bone. So we decided to take a checkup a couple of weeks ago.
Today we went into a hospital for a complete physical(medical) examination(checkup). There wasn't a long line in the waiting lounge, so we was able to take it as soon as we arrived.

The doctor told me I didn't have any serious problems so far, but I have to wait for the results of my blood test and barium contrast x-ray for my stomach. After that, the doctor gave me some laxative pills to exhaust(discharge?) the barium I had a lot. I exhausted a huge amount of s**t in 10 minutes. It looked white-ish and I did 4 times in 2 hours. It's called "diarrhea", isn't it ? Sorry to write such a dirty topic. :)

After the examination, I went for a massage. There's a nice relaxation space(shop) nearby. The hospital I took the checkup is next to the shopping mall in which my English school is, and the relaxation space is in front of the school. The reason I say it's a nice space is..... many young female masseurs! :) Feel great! Comfortable! Excellent! Amazing! Actually, I often have a stiff neck these days due to the bad flow of my blood. I had been tied up with my job till last month, so I didn't have time to go to donate my blood. I personally think blood donation is a good way to make the flow good and relieve stress, and also it's sort of my volunteer activity. In fact, I always never have a stiff neck for a while after blood donation. For me, blood donation isn't a way of "Getting 2 birds with one stone. (一石二鳥 いっせきにちょう)", it's a way of "Getting 3 birds with one stone(一石三鳥 いっせきさんちょう)". haha.

TOEIC

May 19, 2006

My English school staffs recommended me to take a TOEIC test the other day. But I haven't so far wanted to take any exams before. The reason I study English isn't for exams, it's for having good communications. Plus, if I take a TOEIC test, the result will depress me heavily. (^_^; In my case, study for exams is boring, not fun.

On the other hand, I'll take some TOEIC or TOEFL tests when I want to judge my ability. Of course I'm not going to prepare anything before the exams, in order to know how my real skills are. I don't know exactly when that time is. Looks so far.

Universal Studios Japan

May 16th, 2006

I went to "Universal Studios Japan" with my family for the first time the day before yesterday(this past Sunday). One of my wife's acquaintances gave her some free tickets as a present.
USJ was built in Osaka, Japan 5 years ago, but I haven't visited there before. Because we live in Osaka, so I'd thought we could make it easily anytime.

The place wasn't as crowded as I expected. The longest waiting time was about one hour to see the attraction of "JAWS". We needed to wait for just about 20 minutes to see most of the attractions. I guess the reason we didn't need to wait so long was that the day was the Sunday right after Golden week holidays(holiday-studded week).

First, I went see "BACKDRAFT" because there wasn't a long line. But the decision was a huge mistake. All my children got scared due to a lot of fire. So we could go to only "BACK TO THE FUTURE" after that. I wanted to go see and ride some more attractions. (ToT) Anyway we walked around in USJ, to see lots of buildings and some street performances. I got extremely tired...


We dropped by a cheap Chinese restaurant to have dinner on our way home. We had a huge amount of Chinese foods.

My 12-year-old son:
1 bowl of boiled rice
2 servings of jiao-zi(餃子 ぎょうざ steam-baked meat pie)
6 pieces of deep fried chicken
some meat

My 7-year-old son:
1 bowl of fried rice
1 bowl of Ramen(Chinese noodle)
1 servings of jiao-zi
2 pieces of deep fried chicken

Me:
2 mugs of draft beer
1.5 servings of jiao-zi
6 pieces of deep fried chicken
some meat and vegetables(left on my children's plate)
1 serving of double cooked pork(回鍋肉 ホイコーロー)
1 bowl of fried rice for dessert :)

| Universal Studios Japan |

Farewell party for NICE LADY

May 14th, 2006

A farewell party was held at a bar in Osaka city yesterday. It's for an Australian nice lady who is leaving Japan soon. I went to the bar, which is called "Tins Hall", in order to have a good time with her. The inside was a little bit noisy, but I'm used to hearing too much noise, because I have three loud kids and love to listen to Heavy Metal. Just one thing I was a little sad. I couldn't catch so well most of words that the native English speakers in the bar said, due to the loud noise.

Anyway I had a good time thanks to the nice people who joined in the party. I tried to dance with her and some Japanese friends in spite of my age. I got up this morning when I had a bit of backache. I felt my age... To tell the truth, I'm already 43 years old even though they say I look younger for my age.
I took a strange picture of a Japanese lady and an American guy in the bar. I never post any pictures which is realized who they are, because those pictures are sort of their personal information. But I think everybody never realize who the couple in this picture is, except the people who know them. I think it's OK to post it on my blog, plus I've gotten their permission.
ぎゃははははははは ＿(＿ ＿)ノ彡☆ばんばん!

After the party, I could catch the last train somehow but there was a small problem. I got to the nearest station from my house when there were no cabs and there was a long line! So I decided to get home on foot for my health even though it takes about one hour. It's OK for me to walk a long distance with listening to Heavy Metal in my MP3 player. And it's a good way to sober me up. Actually, I have to take my kids to USJ(Universal Studio Japan) today, so I can't have a hangover. :) I got home at about 2 am... and I woke up around 6 am automatically from force of my habit. To be honest, I'm suffering from lack of sleep now... pretty sleepy... haha. That's OK! I'm used to having lack of sleep! I can take my kids to USJ today without any problems! No sweat! It's a piece of cake for me!

To get back to my original point, I said to the Australian lady, "Here's looking at you." I studied this phrase myself the day before yesterday to say something nice to her. Sounds too lovely ? She looked so impressed, I suppose. Let me say another phrase! "There's always a next time." And see you on the Internet!

Tired from Skype

May 13th. 2006

I'm extremely tired today. Actually I installed Skype on my desktop PC a couple of weeks ago. This morning I tried to speak to a huge number of non-Japanese! - such as Americans, British, Italians, Koreans, Chinese etc. So I had to speak a hundred languages at that time! It's definitely hard for me to have communication at once with many people who speak different languages. That's why I'm extremely tired today. haha. Just pulling your leg. :)

In fact, I occasionally try to have a chat with my friends on Skype. It's the most useful and convenient software I've ever used. Thanks a lot, Skype!

| Skype | joke |